The Ghost in the Shell: Global Neural Network Review
Despite originating as a Japanese property, first with a manga written and drawn by Masamune Shirow, and a subsequent anime movie directed by Mamoru Oshii, it’s fair to say that the Ghost in the Shell franchise has reached international prominence. This was true even before the 2017 Scarlett Johannsson-starring Hollywood movie. Now there’s a dizzying volume of films, TV shows, manga, novels, art books etc etc. Over the past few months, I’ve done my best to cover everything I could find that was available in English. Today, for the first time (but not the last), I’ll be reviewing something made outside of Japan.
Global Neural Network was published in 2018, the year after the Hollywood movie. It comprises four works of Western comic literature, by a variety of creators, of varying nationalities. All are set in the Ghost in the Shell world, though quite which continuity is certainly up for debate. In the end, it doesn’t really matter. The book gives the opportunity for creatives outside of Japan to provide their own interpretation of Major Motoko Kusanagi and the sometimes terrifying world she inhabits. It’s a surprisingly decent collection, and each contributor looks to have made significant effort with each of their entries. This is far from a phoned-in cash-in, as I’d initially feared.
Chapter 1: Automatic Behavior, script by Max Gladstone (This is How You Lose the Time War) and art by David Lopez (Fallen Angel, various for DC and Marvel).
This first story from American writer Max Gladstone and Spanish artist David Lopez would fit incredibly well as an episode of the 2002 Stand Alone Complex TV series. Major Motoko Kusanagi and her boss Daisuke Aramaki are in Shanghai, ostensibly to participate in an international trade summit. Obviously this is only a fake cover, they’re in China to investigate the usual cybercrime skullduggery. Following an attack on the summit, Aramaki is captured by some American military types and interrogated, while Kusanagi teams up with a former army colleague to rescue her boss.
In true Stand Alone Complex fashion, nothing is quite as it first appears, there are sudden heel-turns and betrayals, reality shifts as it becomes clear certain characters are unaware of their true situations, there’s deeply unethical corporate exploitation of war veterans. Once again, Ghost in the Shell makes an excellent argument for not upgrading to a cyberbrain.
It’s a pretty decent tale, told over 43 pages, few if any are wasted. The art is decent, with perhaps slightly more realistic-looking versions of our beloved characters that take a little getting used to. The colouring seems somewhat muted to me, which is a shame, as I think some brighter hues would have helped highlight the effective line art. The vast majority of GitS manga/comics are in B&W, but those times when Shirow depicts his world in colour, it absolutely pops. If the Hollywood movie got one thing right, it was in the bright, colourful, and manga/anime-accurate production design. I’m not sure why you’d make a colour GitS comic but mute the aspect that sets it apart. Despite the SAC-like vibes, this could probably fit into almost any GitS continuity. Overall, an encouraging start to the anthology.
Chapter 2: Redbloods, script by Alex de Campi (Archie vs. Predator) and art by Giannis Milonogiannis (Prophet)
Despite artist Milonogiannis hailing from Greece, his artwork in this second story hews closest to Shirow’s original Japanese manga. I’ve never read any of his other comics work, but I really like his deceptively simple, manga-like line art here. Daniela Miwa’s colouring is significantly more vibrant, and this definitely has a slightly more standard GitS “feel” to it. The characters and world look “right”.
This one is a twisty-turny tale involving brain-swapping, people with multiple ghosts in their brain, and, as usual, horrible exploitation of innocent people via the use of cyberbrains. In this case, there’s a child whose ghost is about to be erased and replaced by someone else’s unless Kusanagi and her team can do something about it. Their investigation leads Saito and Togusa, as the two least cyber-augmented members of Section 9 to infiltrate the “Redblood Parish” anti-cyberisation enclave in the American Empire’s Deep South, complete with violent rednecks.
The story and its sinister undertones remind me of criminally underrated and under-watched US TV show Dollhouse. Now that was a show that shared more than a little DNA with Ghost in the Shell. Milonogiannis’ art is the highlight here for me — detailed, grimy, dynamic when it needs to be (we even get a multiped tank battle!), plus every now and then he squeezes in little Shirow-style comedy panels. It’s 48 pages long, but I could read a whole volume of this.
Chapter 3: After the Ball is Over, script by Genevieve Valentine (Batman and Robin Eternal) and art by Brent Schoonover (various for DC and Marvel)
The third story is from American novelist/comic writer Genevieve Valentine and Americal artist Brent Schoonover. This story is set entirely in what’s left of the now-divided USA, following its division into three separate countries in the wake of the GitS’ world’s third and fourth world wars. None of our usual characters appear, instead we follow the uncyberised Sofia and her old friend Ben who comes to her for help. This alternate US is a nightmare state with constant drone surveillance, restrictions on travel and tight border controls. I find it difficult to follow what Ben’s problem actually is, but it seems he need his cyberbrain and cybernetic eye… disabled? Or replaced? I’m not sure. Whatever it is, he’s in trouble, and dangerous people are looking for him.
Although the setting is interesting, this is my least favourite story of the collection, primarily because it’s so obtuse about what is happening and why, plus the ending is so impossibly vague that it leads me to wonder what the point of the whole thing was. At 38 pages it does cover quite a lot of ground, there’s a creepy anti-cyberisation religious cult who tries to recruit Sofia, and the geopolitical background hints are fascinating, but an unclear story mixed with some very muted colours and a distinct lack of action make this one a bit dull, I’m afraid.
Chapter 4: Star Gardens, story by Brenden Fletcher (Isola, Motor Crush) and art by LRNZ (Golem, Monolith)
Finally, we come to what is likely the most visually striking of all four stories, with the excellent, somewhat surreal art of Italian artist LRNZ (Lorenzo Ceccotti), paired with American Brenden Fletcher’s writing. LRNZ’s art is very “European” in style, in that his clean lines and bright, flat colours remind me of such greats as Moebius (whose Worlds of Edena is one of my all-time favourite comics) and even Herge, who pioneered the “ligne claire” style. Some of these panels are so vibrant they could almost be mistaken for animation cels.
The version of Motoko Kusanagi who appears here is very obviously based on the younger iteration who stars in Ghost in the Shell: Arise, and she comes complete with shorter blue hairstyle, red leathers and matching motorbike. Say what you like about the general quality of Arise, some of the design work was outstanding. At only 30 pages long, Star Gardens is the shortest entry in the book, however it may be the one that most “gets” the potential for strangeness inherent in GitS’ world.
The story is a little hard to follow, but not necessarily in a bad way — it’s intentionally disorienting, as Kusanagi herself comes to doubt her own memories and experiences. She discovers memories of a lesbian love scene that she apparently participated in, but doesn’t recognise her partner (much to their distress), and the replayed memory is depicted in more traditional “manga-style”. The story’s ending is a little vague and open-ended, but in a very GitS-like way. I liked this story a lot.
Overall, this was a more decent read than I espected it to be. Much like the Five New Short Stories volume released a year before, it isn’t exactly essential, but it’s really cool to see Ghost in the Shell reinterpreted through the lens of international artists. It’s a little concerning that every single writer is American, it would have been nice to have other, more diverse voices making the characters speak, but at least we have four very different artists — one American, one Greek, one Spanish, and one Italian. There are plenty of other countries with just as strong (if not even much stronger) comics culture as the US, so if there was ever a further volume of this, I’d like to read something from a non-US writer, please. It is quite telling that three of the stories here are either set in the US, or feature US characters…
Next on the itinerary is a book that provides quite a challenge — the multi-author manga anthology Ghost in the Shell: Comic Tribute from 2017. Considering it’s never been translated into English, how am I going to review that? You’ll have to wait and see…
The Ghost in the Shell: Global Neural Network
Authors: Max Gladstone, David Lopez, Alex de Campi, Giannis Milonogiannis, Genevieve Valentine, Brent Schoonover, Brenden Fletcher, LRNZ
Based on: Ghost in the Shell by Masamune Shirow
Publisher: Kodansha US
Publication date: 27th November 2018
Language: English
Pages: 160
ISBN 13: 978–1632366030
